Tobacco companies spend 26 million dollars a day on ads – which they say have no effect on convincing new smokers to pick up the habit…

Alcohol ads cost the industry 3 billion dollars per year – the majority targeted at young drinkers. Why do 80% of beer company websites use cartoons and rock star promotions, while only 10% of wine websites do…? Could it be that brewers are after that 5 billion dollar a year underage college binge drinking market?

Interesting facts from a thought provoking short video piece that discusses how alcohol and tobacco advertising has educated generations of Americans on the 2 most widely used drugs.

You’ll never look at the Marlboro Man the same way again.

6 minutes well spent.

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Tobacco companies spend 26 million dollars a day on ads – which they say have no effect on convincing new smokers to pick up the habit…

Alcohol ads cost the industry 3 billion dollars per year – the majority targeted at young drinkers. Why do 80% of beer company websites use cartoons and rock star promotions, while only 10% of wine websites do…? Could it be that brewers are after that 5 billion dollar a year underage college binge drinking market?

Interesting facts from a thought provoking short video piece that discusses how alcohol and tobacco advertising has educated generations of Americans on the 2 most widely used drugs.

Meth makes people disappear. Loved ones addicted to meth may live in the same town, yet for all the real contact we have with them, they may as well be on the moon. And this can be very tough for anyone who has never been sucked into that life to understand.

This documentary follows a few lives in a small community of meth addicts in Australia. It follows them during week long binges and crashes – in and out of jail, and hospital, and although it’s pretty disturbing at times, it’s not a movie that’s trying to "scare anyone straight". It’s not yet another "faces of meth" variation.

These Australian addicts look and act the same as binging meth addicts anywhere and yet through the erratic behavior and shocking health consequences, the people shine through as people, not just junkies. The film humanizes the people of meth addiction as it reveals a very different, and devastating, lifestyle.

Meth makes people disappear. Loved ones addicted to meth may live in the same town, yet for all the real contact we have with them, they may as well be on the moon. And this can be very tough for anyone who has never been sucked into that life to understand.

This documentary follows a few lives in a small community of meth addicts in Australia. It follows them during week long binges and crashes – in and out of jail, and hospital, and although it’s pretty disturbing at times, it’s not a movie that’s trying to “scare anyone straight”. It’s not yet another “faces of meth” variation.

These Australian addicts look and act the same as binging meth addicts anywhere and yet through the erratic behavior and shocking health consequences, the people shine through as people, not just junkies. The film humanizes the people of meth addiction as it reveals a very different, and devastating, lifestyle.

Captivating and educating and sad – and very worth spending a few minutes to watch:

Can troubled teens be "scared straight"? Do Boot Camps and Military Style Schools work?

No, not really. Apparently, standing over teens and yelling at them doesn’t work very well to stop them from misbehaving once you’re not there to stand over and yell at them any more.

Multi state studies that compared the effectiveness of boot camps to incarceration found that unless the boot camp programs offered a significant amount of therapy, they were no better than straight jail time for reducing recidivism. Boot camps alone seemed largely a waste of time.

So if…

Military style boot camps alone don’t work

Military style boot camps with lots of therapy work better

Why not just skip the push ups and marching part of it all, and send troubled kids to a program where they’ll get the therapeutic programming they need, and get it all day long?

When our kids are in trouble – why should we tear them down when we really need to build them up?

Can troubled teens be "scared straight"? Do Boot Camps and Military Style Schools work?

No, not really. Apparently, standing over teens and yelling at them doesn’t work very well to stop them from misbehaving once you’re not there to stand over and yell at them any more.

Multi state studies that compared the effectiveness of boot camps to incarceration found that unless the boot camp programs offered a significant amount of therapy, they were no better than straight jail time for reducing recidivism. Boot camps alone seemed largely a waste of time.

So if…

Military style boot camps alone don’t work

Military style boot camps with lots of therapy work better

Why not just skip the push ups and marching part of it all, and send troubled kids to a program where they’ll get the therapeutic programming they need, and get it all day long?

When our kids are in trouble – why should we tear them down when we really need to build them up?

Pain pills, we are a country of pain pill abusers, and in the last year or so (at least according to the DEA) an additional 1 million pain pill abusers have joined our swelling ranks.

7 million people in America are using pain medications to get high – every day. A lot of these people want out, but as the story goes, this ride is a heck of a lot easier getting on than getting off.

7 million – people with a big problem, a lot of people that never expected to be "junkies" and a lot of people that just aren’t sure how to get off these medications.

And a few of these people are sharing their stories in a way that I think has real power to help those still uncertain about a journey through recovery.

Cold turkey, weaning off, Methadone, Buprenorphine, Suboxone, Subutex…? A lot of choices – and it’s very hard to know what to do.

I have been watching a number of opiate addicts as they share their recovery story through personal videos posted online. These videos are never well produced, but they are always honest and they describe the options for pain pill recovery from the perspective of someone going through the process – and in real time.

If you know you need to get off these pills, watch and learn from other going through it – and get more comfortable with the process; and ultimately, jump in with both feet and start your own voyage back into "real" life.

Methadone

This guy is describing his first few days on methadone – how he feels after 6 days on methadone, and what the process of taking methadone is like.

Methadone

Cold Turkey

A video describing another young addict’s weaning and cold turkey detox attempts of off of OxyContin

Oxy – Methadone

A young woman talking about her journey from OxyContin to Methadone

Pain pills, we are a country of pain pill abusers, and in the last year or so (at least according to the DEA) an additional 1 million pain pill abusers have joined our swelling ranks.

7 million people in America are using pain medications to get high – every day. A lot of these people want out, but as the story goes, this ride is a heck of a lot easier getting on than getting off.

7 million – people with a big problem, a lot of people that never expected to be "junkies" and a lot of people that just aren’t sure how to get off these medications.

And a few of these people are sharing their stories in a way that I think has real power to help those still uncertain about a journey through recovery.

Cold turkey, weaning off, Methadone, Buprenorphine, Suboxone, Subutex…? A lot of choices – and it’s very hard to know what to do.

I have been watching a number of opiate addicts as they share their recovery story through personal videos posted online. These videos are never well produced, but they are always honest and they describe the options for pain pill recovery from the perspective of someone going through the process – and in real time.

If you know you need to get off these pills, watch and learn from other going through it – and get more comfortable with the process; and ultimately, jump in with both feet and start your own voyage back into "real" life.

Methadone

This guy is describing his first few days on methadone – how he feels after 6 days on methadone, and what the process of taking methadone is like.

Methadone

Cold Turkey

A video describing another young addict’s weaning and cold turkey detox attempts of off of OxyContin

The American beer and liquor industries have long argued that they are capable of self regulation and have agreed to voluntarily monitor their marketing practices to reduce the exposure of alcohol advertising on underage drinkers.

Hmm….

In 2001 the average teen saw 216 beer or liquor TV commercials

In 2007 the average teen saw 301 beer or liquor TV commercials

Is self regulation working?

What’s happening says David H. Jernigan, of the Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth at Georgetown University, is that these marketing boards have simply switched their targeting away from networks and on to cable channels – and cable channels are where most youth are now getting bombarded with ads promoting a glamorous liquor soaked lifestyle.

And on the internet – even further below government’s regulatory radar – things are far worse.

Allowing an industry that needs young drinkers (both of age and underage) for continuing profitability to self regulate its marketing practices is an absurdity.

The Best and Worst?

The Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth has spotlighted certain brands as high or low performing in reducing teen ad slot exposure.

The worst offenders (Showing the most ads in slots viewed by teens):

Bud Light

Coors Light

Miller Light

Mike’s Hard Lemonade

Smirnoff Vodka

Hennessey Cognac

The most responsible brands (Targeting more strongly adult viewed content):

The American beer and liquor industries have long argued that they are capable of self regulation and have agreed to voluntarily monitor their marketing practices to reduce the exposure of alcohol advertising on underage drinkers.

Hmm….

In 2001 the average teen saw 216 beer or liquor TV commercials

In 2007 the average teen saw 301 beer or liquor TV commercials

Is self regulation working?

What’s happening says David H. Jernigan, of the Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth at Georgetown University, is that these marketing boards have simply switched their targeting away from networks and on to cable channels – and cable channels are where most youth are now getting bombarded with ads promoting a glamorous liquor soaked lifestyle.

And on the internet – even further below government’s regulatory radar – things are far worse.

Allowing an industry that needs young drinkers (both of age and underage) for continuing profitability to self regulate its marketing practices is an absurdity.

The Best and Worst?

The Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth has spotlighted certain brands as high or low performing in reducing teen ad slot exposure.

The worst offenders (Showing the most ads in slots viewed by teens):

Bud Light

Coors Light

Miller Light

Mike’s Hard Lemonade

Smirnoff Vodka

Hennessey Cognac

The most responsible brands (Targeting more strongly adult viewed content):

Today’s marijuana is pretty strong stuff. Scientists keeping track of this kind of thing report that they’ve never seen marijuana as strong as what’s floating about now, and they’ve been keeping track of marijuana potency levels since 1970.

The University of Mississippi Potency Monitoring Project has just issued a report on increasing THC levels in Marijuana. The university research group has analyzed almost 63 000 seized marijuana samples since its inception more than 3 decades ago, and they have laboriously charted the steady increase in strength.

Today, the average seized marijuana has a potency of 9.6%, which is twice what it was in 1983.

The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) funds the research project, and they say that this increase in potency increases the risks of acute impairment and marijuana addiction.

The researchers did not discuss their testing methodology in determining potency increases.

Today’s marijuana is pretty strong stuff. Scientists keeping track of this kind of thing report that they’ve never seen marijuana as strong as what’s floating about now, and they’ve been keeping track of marijuana potency levels since 1970.

The University of Mississippi Potency Monitoring Project has just issued a report on increasing THC levels in Marijuana. The university research group has analyzed almost 63 000 seized marijuana samples since its inception more than 3 decades ago, and they have laboriously charted the steady increase in strength.

Today, the average seized marijuana has a potency of 9.6%, which is twice what it was in 1983.

The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) funds the research project, and they say that this increase in potency increases the risks of acute impairment and marijuana addiction.

The researchers did not discuss their testing methodology in determining potency increases.